Moving this from the “What’s in the Box” thread since this is more about comparing three Schiit products.
So this is truly based on listening to just one song last night (actually this morning 
) on all three DACs before going to bed: “40 Shades of Blue” by Black 47 on Spotify (it was on my Discover Weekly - and a really good live song!).
- Yggy vs. Bifrost 2: Similar “quality” of sound (tonality? timbre? color?) but with the Yggy I could notice increased detail in the guitars and percussion on 40 Shades of Blue. It wasn’t an “in your face” improvement, but it was more like watching a movie in 4K vs. HD. Hard to put into words but I felt like the aural resolution was just higher with the Yggy. The soundstage seemed like it had opened up a bit as well, but that may just have been a by-product of the increased resolution.
- Bifrost 2 vs. Asgaard 3 (with Multibit DAC module
): I used the “Pre Out” on the A3 to route the internal DAC output to the Stratus. This comparison was interesting because initially the A3 actually sounded a bit livlier than the BF2. After listening for a bit I think that might have been an internal tuning to attempt to make up for the drop in resolution (and I use that term not in a technical sense, but as subjective description). The Multibit DAC felt a bit more closed-in, maybe a bit hollow compared to the more full-bodied and greater depth of the BF2 sound.
So with pretty much an N=1 I felt I could discern differences between the 3 DACs. The Yggy has a clarity and resolution superior to anything else I’ve heard. The BF2 - while entirely capable on its own - was a step down in the above traits. If all I ever heard was the BF2 I’d be completely satisfied. The Multibit DAC module did a good job for its relatively low cost, but the other two DACs are clearly in a different league.
As I finish writing this I think the TV anology might work pretty well as a way to distill my initial take on these DACs (I’m a very visual thinker!):
Yggydrasil: LG 4K OLED + HDR (high-end model)
Birfrost 2: 4K LCD/OLED
Multibit module on Asgard 3: Mid-line HD LCD with “Sharpening” and other image enhancement options turned on